Microbial secondary metabolites: advancements to accelerate discovery towards application

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Nature Reviews Microbiology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01141-y· OSTI ID:2571280

Dinglasan, Jaime Lorenzo N; Otani, Hiroshi; Doering, Drew T; Udwary, Daniel; Mouncey, Nigel J

Microbial secondary metabolites not only have key roles in microbial processes and relationships but are also valued in various sectors of today’s economy, especially in human health and agriculture. The advent of genome sequencing has revealed a previously untapped reservoir of biosynthetic capacity for secondary metabolites indicating that there are new biochemistries, roles and applications of these molecules to be discovered. New predictive tools for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and their associated pathways have provided insights into this new diversity. Advanced molecular and synthetic biology tools and workflows including cell-based and cell-free expression facilitate the study of previously uncharacterized BGCs, accelerating the discovery of new metabolites and broadening our understanding of biosynthetic enzymology and the regulation of BGCs. These are complemented by new developments in metabolite detection and identification technologies, all of which are important for unlocking new chemistries that are encoded by BGCs. This renaissance of secondary metabolite research and development is catalysing toolbox development to power the bioeconomy.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 2571280
• Journal Information: Nature Reviews Microbiology, Journal Name: Nature Reviews Microbiology Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 23
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English